Huawei Hires Former Nokia Executive

Colin Giles, a former executive vice president at Nokia, attended the company’s annual meeting in May 2011 with marketing chief Jerri DeVard, left, and Marko Ahtisaari, right, vice president of design.

Huawei Technologies said it appointed Colin Giles, a former Nokia senior executive, to lead the Chinese telecom-equipment maker’s smartphone marketing.

The appointment comes only two weeks after Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer business, suggested in an interview with the Financial Times that Huawei might be interested in acquiring Nokia. Huawei later denied any interest in buying the beleaguered Finnish handset maker, saying Yu was speaking only philosophically.

Giles had been with Nokia in various roles since 1992 and left the company in April 2012, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. At the time, he was Nokia’s executive vice president for sales. When he joins Huawei, he will focus on global marketing and branding as executive vice president for the consumer business group.

Huawei, known mainly as a network-equipment maker, is making a concentrated effort to become a contender in the global smartphone market. The company, which sells phones under the Ascend brand, is now ranked fourth in smartphone market share after Samsung, Apple and South Korea’s LG Electronics.